


Murphy's Law

by profslupin



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, M/M, Murphy's Law of Love, Psychologist Lance, Slow Burn, lawyer keith
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-06
Updated: 2018-11-07
Packaged: 2019-05-19 03:12:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 18,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14865504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/profslupin/pseuds/profslupin
Summary: Lance has come to expect that anything that can go wrong in his life will. So he shouldn't be surprised when a cute divorce lawyer opens up a firm across the street from the dating company he works for.Things can't get any worse, right?





	1. Chapter 1

_Murphy's Law - The belief that if anything can go wrong, it will_

* * *

 

“You’re… breaking up with me?”

Nyma reached across the table, resting her hand on top of Lance’s to get him to finally look from his glass of champagne to her. “I’m sorry. We might love each other, but I think we both know this isn’t going to work.”

Lance didn’t know that, actually. He had plans to begin looking for a ring with his sister that weekend.

“But I thought…” He stopped. He thought he loved her. He thought _she_ loved _him_ . He thought this fancy dinner she had suggested was going to be about them talking about their future, about _marriage_.

Clearly he thought wrong.

“Is it because of your parents?” They had always disapproved of him, that he knew. They thought that because he wasn’t from a wealthy family like them, he was only after Nyma’s money and connections. As if he was some Victorian gentleman trying to marry above his station.

Nyma looked down at the table. “Yes. But you know it’s not just that.”

“Do I? Tell me I’m wrong,” Lance challenged, feeling a hot flash of anger burst in his chest.

Nyma remained quiet, refusing to meet his eyes, and Lance deflated. He gently removed his hand from underneath hers.

“It doesn’t matter. You don’t need to explain to me; if you want to end things, we’ll end them.”

Nyma looked back up at him, their eyes locked for a few breaths until Nyma stood up and gathered her purse. She left enough bills on the table to cover the cost of their pricey, unfinished meal and turned away. She paused before stepping away from the table and made eye contact with Lance again.

“I’m sorry I hurt you. For what it’s worth, I really do love you.” And then she was gone.

 _How the_ fuck _was that supposed to make me feel better?_

Lance slumped back in his chair, grabbing his champagne glass and downing it in one gulp. Sure, the night had gone to complete shit more quickly than he could have ever imagined, but at least he could drown his sorrows in expensive champagne.

As if celebrating his newfound misery, fireworks began going off in the distance. Lance stared, mesmerized, before snorting and pouring himself another glass, trying to swallow down the lump in his throat.

An hour and one bottle of champagne later, Lance was slumped onto the table, dozing softly. He stirred, blinking blearily up at the night sky. He swiped at his face with one hand, tear tracks staining his cheeks, and noticed the new weight in his other hand.

“Wha…?” He held up the small velvet box and opened it up to see a gleaming silver band, far more expensive looking than anything he himself could afford. He gently took it out, inspecting the ring from all angles. An engagement ring. Lance returned it to the box and snapped it shut, looking around for who might’ve left it.

There was only one couple left at the outdoor tables surrounding him, and they were absorbed in their own conversation, never sparing him a glance, and there was no one walking by at the moment.

He shook his head and pocketed the ring. Whoever left it was gone.

Lance stood up and took a moment to collect himself, fighting back a fresh wave of tears as he thought of the night’s events.

“Fucking rich people,” he muttered, turning and retreating from the restaurant.

* * *

 

One Year Later

* * *

 

Lance’s entire life had been dictated by Murphy’s Law. For as long as he remembered he had been plagued with horrible luck. Over time, he had learned to always be prepared for the worst case scenario.

Like today. He was already running late for work because no cab would stop for him, so he had to sprint to catch the bus a block away. He was on his way to deliver the report Coran had asked for early, because of course he did.

He let out a breath as he stepped off the bus, pulling out his phone as he approached the crosswalk. At least the weather was working in his favor, as it had stopped raining before he had gotten off. He never seemed to have an umbrella when he needed one.

He sent off an email to Coran with an attachment of the report, too engrossed in his work to notice the man next to him open up his umbrella and take a step back. A spray of water hit Lance in the face as a car sped by, soon joined by stray droplets as the man next to him shook off his umbrella. Lance glared at the suited man, who seemed unaware of the crime he had just committed, only serving to fuel Lance’s irritation even further.

Finally, he glanced over to see Lance staring and gave an infuriating quirk of his brow. “What?”

“What do you think?”

The man gave him a once over, taking in Lance’s now soaked clothes. “You could’ve just stepped back, you know.”

“I couldn’t see the car with you and your dumb mullet in the way! And it’s not like you had to step behind me to protect yourself from the water!” Lance glared harder at him. He did not need to deal with this smug asshole on top of everything else this morning.

“You were on your phone; it’s not my fault you didn’t see the car. All I did was take a step back!”  The man was giving Lance an incredulous look, one that clearly said _I can’t believe we’re even having this argument,_ that made Lance’s skin itch.

“You shook your umbrella and got rain all over me!”

The other exhaled and looked to the sky before turning back to Lance. “Fine. The dry cleaning bill is on me,” he pulled a business card from his suit pocket. “Happy now?”

Lance only stared open mouthed before the man rolled his eyes again and shoved the card into his hands as he turned away.

Lance huffed and quickly made his way across the street, hoping to put some distance between them, and breathed a sigh of relief when he turned the corner to the street his office was on. He glanced back and choked on air when he saw the same sharply dressed man following him.

“Ugh!” Lance turned back and picked up his pace, looking back once or twice to see him still on his tail. Finally, he stopped and turned to face his pursuer.

“What’s your problem?”

Mullet stopped and raised his brows. “I’m sorry?” he asked sharply.

“Why are you following me?”

“What, anyone who walks down the same street as you must be stalking you?” he snorted.

Lance opened his mouth to release a sharp retort, but he came up short. Instead, he closed his mouth and glared, before turning back and continuing on his way. He heard a smug snort behind him, but resolutely refused to turn around again.

He was in front of his office when he noticed the new sign across the street, replacing the bold “For Rent” sign that had been there for some months. He walked closer to investigate, and read “Renew Agent of Divorce” on the plain grey sign.

“Seriously? Could this day get any worse?”

Lance glanced around and, upon seeing no one on the street with him, moved one of the large potted plants on the small porch over so that its leaves obscured the sign. He took a step back and admired his work before smiling to himself and heading back to his own office.

“I Meet You” was the matchmaking agency Coran founded. Lance worked under him as the company’s psychologist, a counselor and therapist to help members overcome any personal obstacles in finding love or making matches.

Lance had been working at the hospital as a psychiatrist, but just under a year ago, after his breakup with Nyma, he had decided he needed to make a change and try to help others in an attempt overcome his own heartbreak.

It also might have had something to do with the fact that among his coworkers at the hospital was Nyma. It was how they had met in the first place, after all.

He never regretted the admittedly rash decision, though. Coran was an amazing, if eccentric, boss, and he met his two best friends because of I Meet You.

“Have you guys seen the place across the street?” Lance threw his stuff onto his desk and sunk into his chair, looking despairingly over at Pidge and Hunk.

“Yeah, I can’t believe they decided to open a divorce firm across the street from a _dating company_ ,” Hunk said.

Pidge snickered. “Coran’s gonna lose his shit when he finds out.”

“Imagine what our clients are gonna think seeing the word “divorce” in bold letters anytime they come to our office! This is awful!”

“I mean, it’s not _that_ bad. Most of our clients only use the site anyways, right?” Hunk shrugged, looking to Pidge for support.

“Eh, it’ll be fine. I think. Anyways, why are you all wet?”

Lance groaned. “Some asshole shook his umbrella and water splashed all over me. I have a change of clothes here somewhere, though…” He rummaged through his desk until he found the neat pile of spare clothes he kept for situations like this. “Let’s get ready for when Coran shows up.”

Coran appeared shortly after, bursting into the building with a “Congratulations on one thousand successful matches, everybody!” He clapped for them before suddenly turning somber. “But you realize what this means…” He looked from face to face. “We need to recruit new members to replace the ones we’ve lost! There’s no time to waste!”

Lance, Pidge, and Hunk exchanged glances.

“I’ve got the report on our successful matches right here-”

Coran cut Lance off. “All well and good, but let’s not forget our current members! Why do I not see a new Mr. and Ms. Popular?” he said, emphatically gesturing at the board of members on the wall behind him, at the top of which had the most popular members of the site.

Lance cut in “I’ll have a proposal for new Populars by next week! They’ll bring in plenty of new members.” He looked to Pidge and Hunk for support, and they nodded enthusiastically.

“Ah, perfect! Thank you, Lance. Remember everyone, it’s all about balance, balance, balance!” With that, he went into his office. A muffled shout of “Excellent work, everyone!” heard from behind the door.

“Ugh, he’s right. We have to recruit enough members to make up for the ones we’re losing to successful relationships… Why do we have to be good at our jobs?” Pidge groaned, going to sit at her desk.

“Why did I have to promise a proposal by next week?” Lance fell into his chair and dropped his head onto his arms.

* * *

 

Lance was washing his face when he heard the door to his apartment opening. Straightening up, he snatched a mop from the closet before rounding the corner, brandishing it like a club.

A dark silhouette was in his entryway, leaning down over a suitcase. Lance was ready to swing when they turned to face him and he finally caught a glimpse of their face in the dim light.

“Veronica! What the fuck, why didn’t you tell me you were coming?” He set the mop down. “You gave me a heart atta-” He stopped when he saw the expression on his sister’s face. “Are you alright?”

She shook her head as tears formed in her eyes, causing Lance to flap his arms wildly before leading her into the kitchen to make them hot chocolate.

“That son of a bitch!” Lance exclaimed when Veronica finished her story. “Please tell me you at least cut up his car seats a la Carrie Underwood.”

Veronica shook her head. “The divorce will be finalized soon. Just… don’t tell mamá and papá, okay? I’ll tell them myself, but not yet.”

Lance gave her a look, but sighed when she fixed him with a pleading eyes. “Fine. And you can stay here as long as you need, okay? Just, the next time you use my spare key in the middle of night, maybe give me a heads up so I don’t try and decapitate you with a mop?”

She laughed wetly and put her head on his shoulder. “You’re the best, _hermanito_.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.”

“Oh, and I forgot to mention… Will you come with me to the divorce party tomorrow night? I need some moral support…”

Lance’s eyebrows nearly rose off his forehead. “Divorce party? Really?”

* * *

 

“You know we don’t have to do this, right? We could just go drown our sorrows in ice cream. Or alcohol. Or both. I’m thinking both.”

Veronica glanced at him from the corner of her eye and straightened her shoulders, running a hand along the front of her dress to smooth out nonexistent wrinkles. “No, I wanna do this. It’s all a part of us ‘ending things on good terms.’”

“He cheated on you. Is that even possible at this point?”

Veronica flinched.

“Sorry, I just don’t know if I’m gonna be able to stop myself from throwing hands with that asshole. ‘Ending things on good terms’ my ass.”

Veronica snorted and linked their arms. “I’m sure you’ll be able to restrain yourself. There’s gonna be food.”

Lance rolled his eyes at her cheap tactic as he pushed open the venue’s doors and approached the spacious dining room. The space was filled with guests roaming around, finding the tables with their name placards. It was mostly filled with his brother-in-law’s friends, a few faces he vaguely recalled from the wedding two years prior. Smug rich assholes, all here to revel in his sister’s failed marriage. He could imagine what they thought of him and his family, that the marriage failed because his sister was just another golddigger. His jaw twitched and he distracted himself by seeking out their table.

Fortunately, theirs was in the front corner with no other occupants. Lance didn’t think he could handle being in close proximity with his brother-in-law and his pompous friends.

The last few guests trickled in, milling about and taking their seats as a slideshow of photos was projected at the front of the room. Lance turned away from the screen and tried to make some jokes about the event, hoping to ease the tension in Veronica’s shoulders. Her eyes were suspiciously red as she stared at the images and Lance sighed. His efforts were rewarded as he managed to get a few wet chuckles from her before it was time for her and her soon to be ex-husband to say a few words and return their rings.

Lance was almost impressed at how flippant his brother-in-law managed to be about the whole affair, not even making an apology in his speech. Veronica, to her credit, simply thanked him for the experience and said she was able to learn from it, despite the short time they were married. It didn’t escape his notice, however, the way her eyebrow twitched as she spoke before she returned to her seat.

Lance gave her a crooked smile. “At least you managed not to strangle him while you were up there.”

She laughed tightly. “It was close for a second there.” A sigh. “I feel like I’ve been swinging between wanting to knock him out and wanting to curl up into a ball and cry for a month.”

Lance rested his hand on her shoulder, a reassuring weight that he hoped would drive some of the negative thoughts away.

“I’m gonna get some air. There’s going to be an auction in a little bit, some of our old things. The money’s gonna go to some charity he picked out.”

Lance nodded and let her go, taking the opportunity to stretch his legs and find a restroom.

He was returning to the dining hall when he passed by a familiar face. He groaned, moving to quickly shoulder past him, but the man stopped him.

“What are _you_ doing here?”

“What’s it to you?” Lance gave him a once over, taking in his deep blue suit and dark hair, now pulled into a tiny ponytail. Which Lance refused to admit was kind of adorable.

He rolled his eyes. “Family of the divorceé? Or friends?”

“That’s none of your business.”

The man rolled his eyes again and huffed out a breath. He did that quite a lot with Lance, it seemed.

“Well, what about you, huh? One of my brother-in-law’s friends, I’m guessing?” Lance gave him another look. “Another rich asshole,” he snorted.

A huff. “Think whatever you want.” He turned on his heel and walked into the bathroom Lance had just left, leaving Lance even more irritated. Of course he had to run into that guy again. Here, of all places. At least it couldn’t get any worse.

 

It got worse. The auction _was_ going smoothly, at least until it came time to bid for one of his sister’s donated items. Lance looked to her in shock as the auctioneer described the ornate necklace that had been a wedding gift from their mother, starting the bid at a decidedly lower price than the previous items.

“Are you really gonna sell the necklace?”

Veronica sighed. “It’ll just remind me of my failed marriage. At least it’s for a good cause.”

He glanced around the room, taking in the silence.

“Starting bid is two hundred dollars! All proceeds donated,” the auctioneer prompted, but the room remained unresponsive

Lance scowled. “These arrogant jerks. Mamá would be so upset if she found out.”

He raised his hand to make a bid, grimacing internally at the price, but before the auctioneer could notice him, there was a call of “Five hundred dollars!” from behind his table.

The auctioneer looked relieved to receive a bid, and quickly called out, “Sold! Excellent taste, sir!” as Lance looked over his shoulder in shock.

Umbrella Asshole was standing behind him, nodding at the auctioneer before turning and leaving the room, never once looking in his direction.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake.”

Once the auction ended, Lance wandered the room looking for the man, but quickly realized he must have already left. He sighed, and decided to approach the auctioneer, a broad shouldered man with a prosthetic hand and shock of white hair. He left his business card with him, hoping he could get in touch with Mullet through him since he had lost the business card he had given him upon their first meeting.

He sighed and walked to the entrance of the venue where his sister was waiting. She told him she was going to celebrate the divorce with some friends, hoping that it might cheer her up, and they parted ways after he gave her a quick hug.

Lance wandered down the street towards his apartment, stopping on the way to grab a coffee and take a seat at one of the outdoor tables of the café.

He scrolled through his phone for a moment before sighing and setting it haphazardly on the table. The coffee helped him deal with the cool night breeze, but did nothing to soothe his restlessness as he stared out at the street next to him. His view was blocked in the next moment by a dark blue suit and he peered up to see the face he knew was going to haunt his nightmares.

“Jesus, you seriously are stalking me, aren’t you?”

“I was walking down this way when I saw you. Why do you keep accusing me of stalking you? _You_ left your business card with _me_ ,” the man said in exasperation, barely keeping his temper in check. He roughly set the necklace box on the table and sat down across from him.

Lance leaned back in his chair and flapped a hand. “Whatever. I wanted to talk to you about that necklace.”

The other raised his brows slightly, silently prompting him to continue, and Lance huffed.

“I was _hoping_ that you’d let me buy it back from you. It… means a lot to me.”

He was met with a stare in response, and Lance’s irritation at the man flared up again.

“Why’d you even buy it in the first place? You obviously don’t care!” He crossed his arms.

“If I didn’t buy it, it would’ve looked bad. It probably would’ve been pretty embarrassing for you.” Jerkface raised a challenging eyebrow at him.

“Please, I doubt you spent five hundred dollars to keep me from getting _embarrassed_ ,” Lance scoffed. “And if you hadn’t bought it, I would’ve been able to get it back for half the price!”

“If you want it so badly, just take it! It’s not like I need some dumb necklace.” He slid the box roughly over to Lance, who promptly swatted it back.

“I don’t need your charity! I can buy it back from you.” He paused, remembering the current balance of his bank account. “Well. I _will._ Just. Not right at this moment.” He wagged a finger at the man and his dumb ponytail. “But you had better keep it safe for me.” With that, Lance snatched his coffee from the table and stormed off, ready to sleep off the day’s events.

* * *

 

Lance stretched, feeling the satisfying pop of his back, and emerged from his bathroom. He grabbed the blazer he had been wearing that night from the back of a chair and felt around the pockets so he could plug in his phone before going to sleep, but with a hard jolt of panic he realized it wasn’t there. He scrambled for his trousers, which were crumpled in a heap on the floor, but his phone wasn’t there, either.

“Oh, fuck me,” he grumbled, frantically searching the rest of his bedroom.

His search for his phone came up short, but what he did find left him with a sinking feeling in his stomach. He gaped down at the business card he thought he had lost, finally taking the time to read the words embellished on the front.

_Keith Kogane, CEO_

_Renew Agent of Divorce_

“Are you shitting me right now?”


	2. Chapter 2

“I think you might be overreacting, just a little,” Pidge said, turning from Lance back to her computer screen.

“I have _never_ overreacted in my _life_!”

“It’s kinda a funny coincidence, though isn’t it? I mean after all that stuff, you find out he works across the street from us?” Hunk said.

Lance narrowed his eyes at him. “You’re not helping.”

Pidge snorted. “Don’t look now-”

Lance’s head shot up and he looked out the large windows to see Mullet - Keith - approaching I Meet You. “Gack! He’s like some sort of demon! If you talk about him, he just appears, like a curse or something.”

“ _Right_. Are you gonna go out and talk to him? I doubt he’s here for any of us,” Pidge jerked her head towards the door.

Lance hung his head and got up from behind his desk, heading to the door like a man approaching the gallows.

“Good luck!” Hunk called out from behind him as he pushed open the door to come face to face yet again with the _bane of his existence._

Lance glared. “What do you want now?”

In lieu of responding, Keith pulled out Lance’s phone and dangled it in front of his face, snatching it away when Lance tried to grab it.

“Hey!”

Keith rolled his eyes and handed it over with a pointed, “You’re _welcome_.”

Lance looked up from his phone, which he had been delicately cradling in his arms, and pursed his lips. “It’s your fault I forgot it in the first place.”

“ _My_ fault?”

“If you hadn’t gotten me so worked up about the necklace I would have remembered to grab it! I never would have lost it if it hadn’t been for you!”

“I didn’t have to come over here and return it, you know. I could’ve just left it on that table!” Keith snapped.

“Whatever.” Lance looked back down at his phone. “But thanks, I guess.”

He turned to head back inside but halted suddenly when Keith said, “What’s your Stupid Awful One Year Anniversary?”

He snapped back around to face Keith with an accusing glare. “You went through _my phone_? How’d you even get the passcode?”

Another eye roll. “The notification appeared on your lock screen, I didn’t _hack into your phone._ ”

“Oh. Right. Well. It’s none of your business, anyways, so!”

He didn’t give Keith a chance to respond before he turned away again and marched back into his own office, letting out a breath when the doors closed behind him.

“What an _asshole._ ”

* * *

 

That night, Lance found himself scrolling through old photos of him and Nyma. Maybe it was a _bit_ melodramatic to set a reminder for the one year anniversary of his worst heartbreak, but he was allowed, okay? He was mourning a six year long relationship with someone he thought was his _soulmate_. It didn’t hurt like it had a year ago, but he was still recovering, still regaining his confidence from the blow he was dealt. His chest constricted and he could feel the sting of his eyes as they welled with tears.

Pidge and Hunk had tried to tell him a hundred different ways that getting hung up on the past was preventing him from moving on, and he knew they were right. But knowing they’re right and actually following their advice were different matters.

He sighed and threw his phone onto the opposite side of his bed. He wasn’t doing himself any good by sitting alone in the dark looking at old photos. He pushed himself off his bed and padded to the living room of his small apartment to join his sister watching some trashy reality television.

She was going through something a lot worse than his simple breakup anyways, he knew. He just needed to get out of his own head. Coran expected him to do a seminar on the traits of a good partner, what someone looks for in a significant other, and he couldn’t prepare for it if he was moping around.

* * *

 

“-And that’s why I believe anyone is capable of finding love if they decide to open themselves up to it,” Lance finished with a grin directed at the camera. He turned his attention to Hunk who gave him a smile and thumbs up as he turned off the recording equipment.

Lance breathed a sigh of relief and straightened out the front of his shirt. It was Coran’s idea - it always was - to record a series of videos for their website to increase interest and publicize the seminar Lance would be hosting that night, and this was the final installment.

Coran had hired him as a therapist, but it didn’t take long for him to decide the company needed to utilize Lance’s combination of charm and expertise as a psychologist. Together, they had come up with the simple, catchy 4G Theory, which was what his seminar was going to be about.

The idea was simple - a good significant other should have four primary traits: guts, generosity, gentleness, and guarantee. Lance could admit that it was cheesy, but if it would help remind people that they need to work in a relationship, that they can’t go into it unwilling to give in return for what they take, he was happy. Besides, he was always a sucker for cheesy slogans.

“You nervous about the seminar later?” Hunk nudged his shoulder.

“You know I’m a natural up there,” Lance winked.

“That’s a yes, then.” Pidge adjusted her glasses with a pointed look, which Lance returned with narrowed eyes.

“We should celebrate after!” Hunk cried, slinging an arm around Pidge and Lance’s shoulders and pulling their heads together.

Lance laughed lightly, patting Hunk’s shoulder in response. “Sounds like a plan to me.”

* * *

 

Lance approached the front of the room after he was announced, smiling brightly at the crowd seated at tables in front of him. It was a full house, which wasn’t surprising given the effort Coran put into publicizing the event, but it made Lance’s chest swell all the same.

“Hello, everyone! I’m Dr. McClain with I Meet You,” he began, smoothly flowing into the speech he had prepared on the 4G Theory.

He circumambulated the room as he spoke, gesturing and weaving between tables to get closer to his audience. He was explaining the traits for the last G, guarantee, when there was a stilt in his gait as he spotted two familiar faces at one of the tables.

Lance almost lost his train of thought as he made eye contact with Keith, who was sitting with the auctioneer from before, along with a dark-skinned woman he didn’t recognize. Keith quirked a challenging eyebrow at him, and Lance, like the goddamn professional he is, just smiled wider and continued on with his explanation.

He paused by their table as he was beginning the conclusion to his seminar and heard the woman say, “This is very well put. I can see why this seminar is sold out,” with an approving nod at the other two.

His grin got imperceptibly wider as he turned away to approach other tables until he heard Keith hiss in response, only barely audible, “Are you here to buy into his dumb theories or gather intel on the enemy?”

 _Wow._ Lance paused. He normally didn’t like to improvise too much during these events, just a few things here and there, so that he could get the okay from Coran first, but he figured he deserved a pass for this one

“Of course, there are still many people who fail to meet these standards,” Lance grinned at the people around him who were all listening with rapt attention, before turning on his heel to face Keith’s table once more. “There are those people who put themselves first and show little consideration for others.” He looked directly at Keith as he finished the sentence, revelling in the way the other was gaping at him. “These people tend to be arrogant, rude, and try to justify the poor way they act with lame explanations. Not only that, but they lack respect for boundaries and privacy,” Lance turned away from Keith, continuing on his path through the tables.

He heard a snicker and a hushed “Shut up, Shiro!” from behind him and suppressed a grin, before catching a glimpse of Pidge smothering her laughter back at the front of the room. Hunk was beside her, staring at him with wide eyes, and he gave them a quick, assuring nod. He had this under control.

“This type of person is the antithesis of what the 4G Theory stands for,” he finished as he returned to the front of the room. He looked triumphantly over to where Keith and his cronies were, but noted with a hint of bitterness that Keith’s seat was now sitting vacant.

Lance had to restrain himself from rolling his eyes. It was no great loss, anyways. Instead, he shifted his focus back to the rest of his audience, finally wrapping things up and thanking them for attending.

He let out a breath as he shook hands with the last few attendees as they trickled out and went to gather his things before heading to the doors. He was looking down at his phone, texting Hunk about where they would meet for their late dinner, when he doubled back to see Keith standing in the entryway.

“What are you doing here?” Lance narrowed his eyes, pocketing his phone.

Keith only glared in response, shoving his hands deeper into his pockets.

Lance snorted. “I guess it doesn’t matter. I should thank you for coming and acting as an example of what not to do. I really think it helped everyone get a better understanding of the 4G Theory.”

Keith’s brows shot up, his fringe now completely obscuring them. “Really? And how is this ridiculously oversimplified idea even supposed to help people find someone? You sound like every other fake motivational speaker out there, spewing pseudoscience bullshit,” he scoffed.

Lance’s fists clenched at his sides and he stared open mouthed at Keith before scrambling for a response. “Look. I’ll have you know that I’m a licensed psychiatrist, okay? And that ‘pseudoscience bullshit,’” he mocked, cutting Keith a look from the corner of his eye, “is just meant to help people understand that they need to put into a relationship just as much as they expect to get out.” The corner of his lip pulled up as he added, “Not that I expected you to understand that, of course. But I hoped you enjoyed the seminar!”

He turned back towards the doors, not allowing Keith to get the last word in, and pushed them open. He heard a frustrated “Hey-!” from behind him, but rather than turn around, gave Keith a two fingered salute over his shoulder.

* * *

 

“And he had the nerve to show up at my seminar after all that!” Lance cried, setting his fork roughly down on the table.

Hunk grimaced. “I’m sure he’s not _that_ bad…?”

“He called my seminar pseudoscience bullshit!”

“I mean, to be fair to him, that was only after you called him a rude, arrogant asshole in front of a room of strangers,” Pidge snickered, recalling the look on the man’s face as Lance singled him out. “Which was hilarious.”

Lance sunk back in his chair and crossed his arms. “Well, maybe I wouldn’t have called him a rude, arrogant asshole if he didn’t act like one,” he muttered mutinously.

Hunk gave his shoulder a pat and said, “He might work across the street, but it’s not like you’re gonna have to see him all the time or anything! It’ll be fine, buddy!”

Lance jolted up and stared at Hunk with wide eyes while Pidge let out a scandalized “Hunk!”

Lance groaned. “You’ve jinxed me, man. Quick! Knock on wood or something!”

“I can’t believe you said that. That’s almost as bad as ‘what could possibly go wrong?’” Pidge shook her head solemnly.

“Um, okay then… Sorry, I guess…?” Hunk looked between the two.

“Ugh, whatever happens next, just know it’s on you. Have fun writing my eulogy.”

* * *

 

Lance was checking the blog he ran for I Meet You, sipping an over complicated coffee from his favorite café. It was a lot of the usual questions and comments people leave - some “Why doesn’t he love me?” with a few “How do I learn how to open to up to my boyfriend?” His favorites were some of the more fanatical followers of his blog, leaving “I LOVE DR. MCCLAIN MARRY ME PLS <3” which always made him grin a little to himself, even if he would never admit it to Pidge.

He answered a few of the questions left in response to his seminar and some more general ones, before scrolling down to see another one from last night.

_Anon said:_

_I don’t love him anymore, so why can’t I open up to anyone else?_

Lance paused, leaning back in his chair to consider the question. It was difficult giving helpful answers to the blog’s questions given how little information he had, but he always did his best to provide some insight or refer them to other resources that might help. He tapped his chin once before typing out a response.

_Dr. McClain:_

_There’s any number of reasons you could be having trouble with this, from having been hurt by him, to not having met the right person to open up to yet. I would ask yourself if you’re sure that you’re really over him and open to a new relationship._

Coran burst into the building with his usual flair. “Alright, everyone, listen up!”

Lance looked up from behind his desk, hitting publish on his response right as the door flew open.

“We’re going to need to work harder than ever with that new agency across the street sullying our business! They’ve practically declared war.” Coran shook his fist to emphasize his words.

Lance spoke up. “No need to worry, Coran, I’ve got you covered. I’ve worked on selecting members to be the new Populars, and then we can work on making their profiles more appealing to draw in more potential clients and-”

“Ah, as a matter of fact, Lance, I’ve already found the perfect member to be our new Mr. Popular!”

Oh. Well, that didn’t mean Lance had to scrap _all_ of the work he had done on his proposal. “Great, then we can help edit his profile to appeal to more people, and I was thinking we could even hold a special matchmaking event with him and a bunch of other members, if he agrees. It would be a great opportunity to publicize the company.”

“Wonderful, wonderful! I’ll send all of you all the necessary details so that you can have the event plan ready soon. Good luck, everyone,” Coran called as he marched to his office, closing the door behind him to do whatever it is he works on all day. Lance had suspicions it was either writing trashy romance novels or trafficking drugs, using I Meet You as a front for his cartel.

Lance returned to his computer, opening up the email Coran had just sent out, which included a link to their new Mr. Popular’s profile. His computer buffered for a moment before loading the profile information, and Lance nearly fell out of his chair as the profile picture appeared.

“I might as well hurl myself into the sun right now. Hunk, Pidge, please, I’m begging you. End my misery.” He reached out a shaky hand to them and Pidge rolled her eyes.

“Lance, chill.”

“How can I chill when my arch-nemesis is our new Mr. Popular? Why does he even have an account?”

Pidge arched a brow at him and Hunk said, “Isn’t ‘arch-nemesis’ a bit… much? You’ve only met him, like, twice.”

“We’ve met _three_ times, first of all. And he’s decided to make my life as difficult as humanly possible in that short period of time. So, yes, he’s my arch-nemesis.”

“Right, right, of course. So, are you gonna ask him if he’ll attend the event you’re planning?” Hunk asked innocently.

“What? No! He hates me; he’d never say yes if I asked him! And why is this suddenly _my_ event?”

Pidge looked at him blankly. “You’re the only one of us that knows him, and this event was your idea in the first place. Besides, we’re not here to deal with clients, we just do the website. This one’s all you.”

Lance scowled. “You two are ganging up on me. I should file a complaint.”

* * *

 

_Hi! Keith! What’s up buddy? I know you hate me and we’ve been increasingly antagonistic with each other, but I was hoping you’d do me a solid and attend a matchmaking event you have no interest in?_

_So, Keith, how’s life treating you? Good? Great. So, I was hoping that we could put old rivalries behind us. I wanted to start by inviting you to an event held by my company! What? No, of course I’m not asking because I have to and if you don’t go I’ll let my boss and all my coworkers down after they trusted me to arrange this event!_

_Keith. Please. I’m begging you. If you don’t come to this event I might as well turn in my two weeks notice now, nevermind the fact that we’ve practically been at each other’s throats everytime we see each other-_

Oh, fuck. Lance had been mentally rehearsing what he would say to Keith all morning, but he couldn’t imagine a single scenario in which he would possibly say yes. Most of his imagined scenarios resulted in Keith yelling at him. Some even resulted in him getting punched.

Yeah.

He sighed as he set his lunch, made entirely of junk food items found in the convenience store, on the counter to check out. He reached into his back pocket to pull out his wallet to pay, but his hand only grasped the denim of his pants. He had been so distracted by thinking of ways to ask Keith to attend their event that he hadn’t remembered to grab his wallet from his desk on his way out. So in a way this was all Keith’s fault, as most things that go wrong in Lance’s life seemed to be.

“Shit, I’m sorry, I forgot my wallet. I’m just gonna go grab it and I’ll be back-”

He was interrupted as he went to put his meager lunch back on the shelves by someone shouldering him out of the way and putting their own items on the counter besides Lance’s. “We’ll pay together,” they said, causing Lance’s eye to twitch in a practically Pavlovian manner.

_Of fucking course. His name is a goddamn curse - if I even think it he just appears out of nowhere!_

Lance shook off his initial irritation. Keith had just paid for his food, after all.

It was only a grand total of $7.65, but still.

“Uh, thanks, man,” Lance began, but Keith spoke before he could continue, shrugging off his gratitude.

“Don’t worry about it.” He walked out with his own purchase, but Lance jogged after him.

“Wait, I did actually need to ask you something!”

Keith stopped and turned around. “Yeah?”

Oh, shit. He actually stopped. And now he expected Lance to say something. He hadn’t rehearsed in his head enough to be put on the spot like this, and he was having an unusually hard time thinking on his feet with that intense gaze focused on him. How was it even fair for someone to have eyes that pretty? It was distracting Lance from the reason he called after Keith in the first place, which he vaguely recalled was important.

“Well?” Keith prompted.

Lance straightened up, setting his shoulders as he remembered what he needed to ask Keith. His sworn enemy. “I Meet You is holding this event. I’m actually in charge of planning it,” Lance said with a hint of pride. “But anyways, since you’ve joined our site, you’ve actually become a pretty popular member, and we were hoping you might be one of the attendees. We don’t have all the details quite yet, but there’s gonna be food…” Lance trailed off as he noticed the utterly lost look on Keith’s face.

“What are you talking about?”

Lance had imagined many scenarios, but none of them involved this level of sheer confusion. “Uh… It’s like a matchmaking event or a, uh, mixer? You wouldn't be making any big commitment by going, but we were hoping…” Lance stopped again, unsure of how else to explain.

Keith shook his head, forcing the confusion from his features. “I don’t have time to go to some matchmaking event. See you around.”

“Hey, wait-”

Keith didn’t pause in his purposeful stride to hear Lance’s last ditch effort to convince him and Lance stomped his foot.

“Ugh!”

Lance slouched back into I Meet You and shook his head at Pidge and Hunk.

“Aww, buddy, don’t worry! I’m sure you can convince him!”

“Maybe it wasn’t the best idea to have Lance ask…” Pidge tapped her chin.

Lance levelled her with a look. “Obviously. He barely gave me the time of day,” he groaned, slumping into his desk chair and dumping his food onto his desk. He looked at Pidge from the corner of his eye. “I grabbed that ridiculously caffeinated energy drink you like.”

“Yes! You’re the best! And look, it’s not your fault. I doubt he would’ve said yes no matter who we had ask, so.”

“Whatever, gremlin,” Lance grumbled, but his mouth twitched as he saw her uncap the drink and take a larger gulp than should’ve been humanly possible.

Hunk clapped his shoulder. “It’s not like you to give up after one try, though. Maybe the guy was just in a bad mood or something.”

“I’m pretty sure at this point he’s just like that.”

Pidge laughed around her drink. “It’s more likely he’s just always like that with _you.”_

Lance narrowed his eyes before groaning and throwing his hands up. “My life is so goddamn tragic, guys,” he despaired.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> coran is an enigma


	3. Chapter 3

The next day Lance returned to work with a hard set to his shoulders. He was going to convince Keith if it was the last thing he did.

... Which it might be.

He slunk over to his desk and set down his coffee, steepling his hands underneath his chin. He hadn’t been prepared well enough yesterday, but he was not going to allow that to happen again. He just had to come up with a game plan.

Clearly, Keith was holding a grudge against him. Which was… fair, in all honesty. Lance had been a _bit_ of an asshole. But it’s not as though Keith hadn’t readily returned his hostility, and then some. He had a way of getting under Lance’s skin that made his jaw clench, and the sharp look in his dumb, shining eyes irritated him to no end.

But he still had to somehow convince him to attend their event. Coran had his heart set on it and had waved all of Lance’s concerns away, saying he was sure Lance could manage to convince him. Coran had already managed to secure some vendors and publicized the event on their site, leaving the venue and attendees to Lance and insisting that he could handle it. Lance didn’t want to let him down.

Surely if Keith was willing to sign up for online dating he couldn’t be _that_ against the idea of going to their event. Was he really just saying no because of Lance? He groaned, leaning back and chugging down the remainder of his coffee.

Maybe he could bring back up? Of course, it was doubtful Keith would want to say yes if he felt as though he was being cornered, so it might be best for Lance to go alone. Lance had his number from the business card Keith had given him, but he knew Keith would just hang up on him as soon as he realized who had called. Lance tapped his lips, lost in thought. There was clearly only one solution.

* * *

 

“Are you really staking them out?” Pidge crouched next to Lance, who was squinting at the large glass doors of the firm across the street. He was squatting, hidden behind the foliage of a large potted plant next to their own office’s glass doors as though he was afraid Keith would leap out of his office and spot him through the windows lining the front of the building.

“I have to catch him as he leaves for lunch. I won’t let him slip through my fingers again.”

“What if he brings his lunch and eats in the office?” Hunk questioned, appearing behind them and attempting to sneakily glimpse out the door from behind Lance.

Lance glanced up at him. “I don’t need that kind of negativity, Hunk.”

He shrugged. “I’m just saying, man. Your legs will cramp if you’re squatting there all afternoon.”

Lance rolled his eyes and swatted at them. “This is a covert operation! You guys are distracting me!”

Pidge pushed herself up, bracing her palms on her knees. “Some operation. Looks like your man is on the move.”

Lance whipped his head around, eyes widening as he saw the woman from the seminar pushing open the doors with Keith and the auctioneer, Shiro, Lance assumed, close behind. He shot up and pushed open his own doors, calling behind his shoulder, “Wish me luck!”

He jogged up behind them as they were chatting with each other. Keith let out a small chuckle at something Shiro said as he nudged him with his elbow and Lance nearly tripped on his own feet. What even was that? His laugh had been a short, low chuckle, and yet it still left Lance reeling. He was surprised Keith was capable of a genuine laugh, having only heard the derisive snorts directed at him. He shook his head, pulling out his phone as he quickened his pace and passed by them on the sidewalk. He could feel eyes dart to him as he passed, and he looked up from his phone in mock surprise.

“Oh, hey! You guys off to lunch too?” He smiled brightly at them as he slipped his phone back into his pocket. Hopefully they hadn’t noticed that it had never been on. “I don’t think we’ve formally met. I’m Lance.” He extended a hand to the woman, who smiled warmly at him and shook it, not breaking her stride.

“I’m aware - we were all at your seminar the other night. It was wonderful! I’m Allura Altea, and this is Takashi Shirogane,” she gestured towards the man on Keith’s other side, who nodded at him with a smile.

“You can just call me Shiro.”

“And you’re already acquainted with Keith, aren’t you?” Allura asked, laughter laced in her musical voice.

Keith, who’s narrowed eyes had been trained on Lance, darted to Allura with betrayal.

Lance laughed, hoping it didn’t sound nervous. “We’ve met a few times by now, yeah. So, you guys new to the neighborhood?”

Shiro nodded. “I’ve lived in the area a while, but I’m not too familiar with this part of town.”

Allura hummed in agreement and Lance grinned wider. “Well, if you’re looking for a good place to get lunch, I know all the best spots within five miles of here,” he said, chest puffing out slightly.

“That’d be amazing! Would you care to join us as well? Or do you need to get back to your office soon?” Allura smiled at him.

Lance almost deflated in relief at her words. He had been worried that Keith’s companions would be as surly as he always seemed to be, but the opposite was true. Allura and Shiro both seemed exceedingly friendly and kind, and their walk to one of Lance’s favorite lunch spots was filled with easy conversation between the three of them. Keith, for his part, remained silent, sulking in between Allura and Shiro the entire walk there. His petulance was almost enough to make Lance laugh when they took their seats as Keith crossed his arms in front of himself like a sullen toddler. Allura and Shiro appeared to feel the same way as they exchanged a look and attempted to suppress their smiles.

Shiro turned his attention back to Lance. “So you host those seminars, but what else do you do for your company? I heard from Keith you’re a psychiatrist?”

Lance glanced at Keith, who was giving Shiro an evil look out of the corner of his eye, and looked back to Shiro, straightening his shoulders. “I am! I work as a therapist, mostly. I do couple’s counseling and I help clients who need some extra help working through personal issues before opening themselves up to new relationships. Of course, I have other responsibilities too. Right now I’m planning an event that I was hoping I might be able to convince Keith here to attend.” Lance shot Keith the most dashing smile in his arsenal, revelling in the way Keith’s mouth had formed a silent “Oh” before his expression soured.

“Oh, really?” Allura propped her chin on her hand. “What kind of event is it?”

“I guess it’s a kind of matchmaking event, like a mingler. But if we’re being honest, it’s mostly just a party so we can attract new clients.”

“Oh, that sounds fun!” Allura turned to Keith. “Doesn’t it?”

“Not really.”

Lance’s shoulders sank before he caught himself and straightened out. “Sucks to hear from one of the guests of honor. Any way I can convince you?” Lance leaned forward on a single elbow, hoping the charmingly lopsided smile he was assaulting Keith with might make him give.

Keith stared.

Lance sighed and leaned back in his chair. A waiter approached, ready to take their orders, and he opted to let the subject drop as they drifted onto other topics. By the time they finished their meal, Lance had exchanged contacts with Shiro and Allura, along with promises to get together for lunch again soon. Once they were nearing their respective offices and preparing to part ways, Lance felt a soft touch on his elbow, and turned to see Shiro smiling at him as the other two headed inside.

“Keith told me about how you asked him to attend that party yesterday,” he said, allowing his hand to drop now that he had Lance’s attention.

“And how he brutally rejected me?”

Shiro laughed. “That too. To be honest, I think you two have more in common than you both think.”

Lance’s skepticism must have shown on his face because Shiro smiled slightly and shook his head. “But anyways, I think you two would get along if you both, well… stopped antagonizing each other. I think Keith could benefit from actually going out for once.”

“He didn’t seem to like the idea, though,” Lance pointed out gently. “In fact… it didn’t seem like he even knew he was on our site.” He gave Shiro a pointed look, which cracked into a smirk when he saw his guilty look. “I knew it.”

Shiro brushed the back of his neck. “Okay. So Allura and I _might_ have given Keith a little push in the right direction.” He chuckled, but it quickly devolved into full blown laughter when he saw Lance’s shoulders shaking with suppressed giggles.

“Alright,” he said, attempting to smother his snickers, “It might have also been revenge for Keith dumping his demon of a dog on me with no warning.”

“Hey, nothing wrong with a little revenge now and then.”

“My point _was,_ ” Shiro continued, steering the conversation back towards its initial purpose, “I think it would be good for Keith to give the party a chance. You should join us tomorrow for a soccer match with our friends and ask when he’s more relaxed.”

Lance’s skeptical look returned. “Is he ever?”

Shiro pursed his lips to hide his smile. “I guess you wouldn’t know because he’s just really high strung around _you_. So, will you give it another go? He refuses to take my or Allura’s advice.”

Lance knew it would be in vain, but a mixture of his own pride and the puppy dog eyes Shiro had trained on him persuaded him. “I’ll give it a shot. No one can resist my charm for long.”

Shiro grinned and clapped Lance on the shoulder. “Thanks, buddy. I owe you one.”

They parted ways and Lance returned to his desk, where Hunk and Pidge were happily chatting.

“Oh, hey, Lance! How’d it go?” Hunk asked eagerly as he saw Lance approach.

“Did Keith breathe fire?”

“Almost. He said no again, but-” Lance said, speaking over Hunk and Pidge’s disappointed groans, “Shiro invited me to join their team for a soccer match at the park, and he said I’ll have a shot convincing him there.”

“... Do you even know how to play soccer?” Pidge asked skeptically.

“I’ll have you know I was the MVP of my team for three years in a row!”

“Um… Didn’t you say you were only on a little league team…?”

“A minor detail, Hunk. I’m just a bit rusty is all.”

Pidge shot him a look above the rim of her glasses. “Whatever you say, dude.”

* * *

 

Lance jogged towards the field where Keith and Shiro, along with a few other people Lance didn’t recognize, were warming up, kicking the ball back and forth. Lance did a double take upon seeing Keith in his black t-shirt and shorts. It wasn’t like he had expected Keith to play soccer in the expensive suits he was always wearing, but he was still taken aback. The look suited him, and Lance had to force himself not to stare at the way the black fabric stretched across the muscles in his back.

Life was entirely unfair.

Shiro spotted him first, waving him over with a wide grin, causing Lance to quicken his pace to close the distance. The movement attracted Keith’s attention, and he turned to Lance with a slight scowl darkening his features.

Not a great sign, but at least he wasn’t vocalizing his displeasure. It’s the little things in life.

“What’s up, Shiro?”

“Nothing much, it’s good to see you, Lance,” Shiro returned with a clap to his shoulder before turning to the rest of the group to introduce them all. Aside from Keith and Shiro, there were five others, although Lance only managed to retain the names of Matt and Acxa.

With Lance, they were able form even teams of four. Before Lance could pull Keith aside to talk, they were being divided up, with Shiro and Keith on one team with two of the others, and Lance, Matt, Acxa, and an intimidatingly tall woman on the other. Lance did his best to hold his own with the others, taking a defensive stance on their side of the grass, but he was a bit more out of practice than he had let on to Pidge and Hunk. In spite of it all, fueled by his competitive streak and a deeply embedded desire to one up Keith, he managed to valiantly guard their makeshift goal, two cones set in the grass, and steal the ball from Keith more than once. By the end of an hour, they were all panting for breath and complimenting each other’s plays.

Lance gasped for air, hands clasped on top of his head, his lungs desperately trying to exit his body, when he got an idea. Once he felt as though he had reasonably doused the fire in his chest, he jogged over to where Keith was chatting amicably with one of his teammates.

Keith eyed him warily as he neared, and Lance fixed him with a small smile. “Sup, Keith.”

“Uh, hey.”

Lance didn’t allow himself to be fazed by Keith’s standoffish attitude, instead opting to plow through it. “I figured we could make things a little more interesting here.” At his words, Matt and Acxa’s heads popped up, interested to see what stakes Lance would propose. “Whaddaya say?”

Keith crossed his arms. “What do you want?”

“Oh come on, you already know. If I beat you in some penalty shots, you gotta come to I Meet You’s mixer.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “And when I win?”

“ _If_ you win,” Lance emphasized, “I’ll stop bugging you about it. It’s pretty generous if you ask me - you either win and I don’t bother you anymore, or you lose and get to come to an awesome party and eat free food. So?”

Keith seemed to weigh his options for a moment before relenting. “Alright. Fine.” A small smirk formed on his face. “I hope you have a good backup plan.”

“Yes!” Lance pumped a fist in the air. “So, whoever scores the best out of five shots?”

“Deal.”

“Hell yeah!” Matt cheered in solidarity with his teammate, “I hope you’ve got something to wear to the party, Keith!”

Shiro snickered at Matt’s jeers while Keith’s expression turned serious as he took his place in front of the goal they had marked off.

Lance steadied himself with a small breath as he stared down Keith, who was crouching in the grass, ready to dive. Without giving himself to psych himself out, he took two steps back before running and kicking with as much strength and precision as he could muster.

The ball shot forward towards the far end of the goal, and Keith made an impressive dive for it, his fingers just brushing against the surface, but unable to block its path. Lance jumped up with a cheer and high fived Matt.

“Nice shot, dude!”

“I’ve got this in the bag,” Lance laughed, already setting himself up for his next shot.

He wasn’t so lucky the next time, sending the ball almost straight down the center, which Keith easily blocked. In the end, Lance managed to score three out of his five shots, an impressive feat given the skill of his opponent.

Lance and Keith switched spots on the field, passing with light hearted taunts thrown each other’s way.

Lance crouched, mimicking Keith’s stance earlier, and prepared himself for the eventuality that he might take a soccer ball to the face. Lance somehow managed to block Keith’s first shot, his body curling up around the ball the way it did when he had been goalie when he was eight, but the next three went in consecutively.

“Ready to lose?” Keith teased, staring Lance down as he took a step back, winding up for his kick.

“Please. I hope you’ve got a nice tie picked out, buddy.”

Keith surged forward, coming at the ball from the left. Lance shifted his weight, ready to dive to the right side of the goal, but Keith feinted at the last second and the ball shot to his unprotected side. Lance tried to switch directions, but he lost his balance in his haste and and tipped forward onto his knees, his fingertips coming up just short of the ball.

Fuck.

Lance leaned forward on his knees before letting himself fall back onto the grass. He raised a fist and shook it at the sky, silently cursing himself for falling for Keith’s trick.

A head popped into his vision, a small smile playing on its lips, and Lance reluctantly took the hand that was offered to him.

“Better luck next time,” Keith said, tugging Lance to his feet.

“Considering I haven’t played since I was like twelve, you’d better watch your back. I’m comin’ for you, man.”

Keith grinned lopsidedly and looked down at his sneakers.

“Well, Mullet, I’m a man of my word. I won’t bother you about my _dumb party_ again.” Lance crossed his arms.

Keith redirected his gaze to meet Lance’s eyes. “Look… Well. Maybe I can, uh, give it a shot?” He ran his fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck not caught by his headband.

“You don’t need to rub it in - wait. Really?” Lance tried to look skeptical, but he could feel the grin forcing its way onto his lips.

“Yeah. Sure, I guess.”

“Oh, thank God. I really didn’t want to have to tell Coran you couldn’t make it,” Lance laughed out in relief.

Keith’s lopsided smile returned, but before he could respond, Matt appeared behind Lance and threw his arm over his shoulders.

“You joining us for lunch or what?”

Lance exchanged a glance with Keith before shaking his head with a smile. “Yeah, why not?”

* * *

 

Lance had to admit, Shiro _may_ have been right when he suggested he and Keith were more similar than he thought. When Keith wasn’t actively being an asshole to him, they actually got along fairly well, and Lance had Keith laughing at his dumb jokes by the time they had all finished lunch.

They weren’t about to be skipping through meadows holding hands anytime soon, but Lance found himself gazing over at Keith more times than he’d ever admit to Pidge and Hunk.

Keith was pretty when he wasn’t scowling at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bonus scene:  
> "wait... that matt is the same as ur brother matt?"  
> "uh yeah. literally he looks exactly like me and u knew my brothers name is matt."  
> "if u knew they were friends why didnt u HELP ME?"  
> ">:3c"  
> "u demon. u absolute monster. how the fuck did u say that out loud."
> 
> when lance says hes gonna play soccer w the squad pidge realizes theyre probably who her bro hangs out w but if u think shed pass on an opportunity for lance 2 suffer... well...


	4. Chapter 4

Lance shook hands with the guests as they trickled in and began mingling in the spacious dining room of the venue I Meet You was hosting the party in, nearly bouncing on his heels in excitement. When the flow of people coming in slowed to a only a few guests every couple of minutes, Lance decided he could finally abandon his post at the door and hover by the table of hors d’oeuvres.

He glanced around the room as he piled an unhealthy amount of tiny foods onto his plate. Pidge and Hunk were somewhere nearby, talking to Coran about something or other. His gaze made its way back to the door, where he noticed Shiro and Allura exchanging whispers, looking worried.

Lance topped his plate of with one last tiny wiener on a stick and quickly made his way back over to the door, a bright smile on his face. If they were here, that must mean Keith had arrived as well.

He was interrupted halfway there by a woman in a deep blue dress, eager to get his attention.

“Dr. Mcclain! I heard you put all this together! It’s amazing!”

Lance glanced over her shoulder to where Shiro and Allura were standing. Allura noticed him looking and gave him a small smile and a wave before pulling her phone out and walking a few steps away, into the quiet of the entryway, as she made a call.

“Um, yeah, but really I was just in charge of a lot of the planning,” Lance looked back to the woman in front of him. “It was everyone else that did all the hard work to bring everything together.”

“Oh, come on, you can brag if you want to,” she laughed. “Oh my god, I never even introduced myself, I’m sorry. I’m Plaxum Rivera.” She extended a hand.

Lance took it, balancing his precariously piled plate of food in the other, and smiled. “I recognize you now! You’re a member of the site, right?”

“Yeah. For a while now; I always seem to be a bit too picky, I guess.” She gave him a sidelong look.

The realization that she was flirting with him hit him suddenly, and he chastised himself. He was off his game. Normally, he would already be pulling out all his cheesiest lines and giving her his most charming smile, but the mix of his nervousness for the party and his impatience to find Keith was throwing him off. He shook off the nerves and let his easy smile return. “Well, being picky isn’t a bad thing, necessarily. Just don’t let arbitrary things stand in the way of meeting someone really great. And if you need more help with that, don’t hesitate to set up an appointment! Now, I’m really sorry, but if you’ll excuse me.”

He quickly extricated himself before she could say anything more and internally cursed himself. He had to make sure this party went perfectly; it was the first time he had planned an event like this, and he couldn’t let Coran down after he had trusted him with it.

But first - Keith.

He finally made his way to where Shiro and Allura were standing.

“Hey, guys!”

“Hey, Lance.” Shiro glanced back at Allura as she huffed and hung up her phone, before turning to face them.

“Lance! The party seems to be going wonderfully so far,” she said with a tight lipped smile.

“Yeah, I was honestly kind of nervous no one would show up,” Lance laughed.

Shiro chuckled along with him but said nothing, so Lance plowed on. “Um, by the way, have you guys seen Keith, or…? We’re starting the whole speed dating thing soon.” His eyes darted between Shiro and Allura.

“He’s not here. Yet, at least.”

“He’s… what?” Lance looked to Shiro for confirmation of her words, and he nodded apologetically.

The tangled spool of anxiety in Lance’s chest unravelled and dropped like lead into his stomach. It wasn’t as though the entire night hinged on Keith’s attendance, but…

But he had promised he would be here. He sent in an RSVP and everything! Surely, this wasn’t all just some vindictive prank for Lance to make an ass of himself, right? In the two weeks since Keith had finally agreed to attend, he had honestly thought they were becoming friends. Friends of friends, at least, since Lance had made a habit of going to lunch with the three of them when he caught them leaving for their break. They got along well, the animosity mostly forgotten as they actually got to know each other. Keith had warmed to him, in his own way. He even laughed at Lance’s stupid jokes! Well, some of them, but he would take what he could get.

Why had he suddenly decided Lance wasn’t worth it?

He shook his head. “Whatever. We said our Populars would be here, but I can fill in for him.” Lance laughed flatly. “Hopefully no one will be too disappointed to talk to me instead of him.”

Shiro brushed the bridge of his nose. “I’m really sorry about this. Me and Allura have been trying to get in touch with him, but he’s not picking up.”

Allura glared at her phone and nodded. “I will certainly be giving him a piece of my mind later.”

Lance flapped his free hand, waving away their concern. “It’s fine, don’t worry about it. It’s not really a big deal, anyways,” he grinned.

They looked ready to say something more, but Lance barreled on before they could. “I’m gonna have to go rearrange some things, though, so I’ll see you guys later, yeah? Have fun, the tiny food is  _ amazing _ .”

He turned and quickly made his way through the crowd, meeting Hunk and Pidge in one of the staff rooms. After explaining the situation, Hunk was nodding in sympathy while Pidge was glaring daggers at the door, as though Keith was just beyond it.

“So you said you’d stand in for him?”

“Yeah, I didn’t want to fuck with the seating arrangements at this point so I figured it was the easiest fix. Why, do  _ you  _ wanna do it?” Lance waggled his eyebrows and Pidge scrunched up her nose.

“Yeah, no way. Have fun, dude.”

* * *

 

He didn’t.

Not for lack of trying, and certainly not because he didn’t enjoy the chance to meet with his clients. He just couldn’t ignore the pang in his chest everytime he recalled why he had to fill in in the first place.

But whatever. He was resourceful, and he made the most of it, taking the chance to sweet talk prospective clients and get better insight on current members. Coran would be proud.

Eventually, after what felt like an eternity of chatting and charming  _ the fuck  _ out of everyone, he was watching the venue empty as the last guests made their way, somewhat drunkenly, to the sidewalk outside.

Lance dropped into one of the vacated chairs with a sigh.

“Doin’ alright?” Hunk appeared beside him, messenger bag in hand.

“Oh, yeah, I just wanted to get off my feet for a little. I’m gonna help you guys pack up in a sec.”

Hunk shrugged and smiled softly. “We’re almost done, and you’ve done a lot tonight. Did you ever hear from Keith, by the way?”

Lance pursed his lips. “I talked to Shiro and Allura earlier. They said he sent a text apologizing and that he wouldn’t end up making it. So.”

“Okay, kind of a dick move. I’m sure he’s gotta have some reason, though?”

Lance jerked one of his shoulders, an irritated impression of a shrug. “He couldn’t have let me know? It’s not like I’d blame him if he had to take his goldfish to the hospital or something.” A sigh. “Eh, it doesn’t matter anymore. Tonight was a success, and I got at least like, ten people saying they’d become actual members!”

“Oh, hell yeah! I had complete faith in you.” Hunk bowed his head in mock admiration, but Lance could see in the way his smile didn’t wrinkle the corners of his eyes like it normally would that Hunk was merely humoring his attempt to change the subject.

“I don’t know about you guys, but I am so ready to steal a bottle of leftover champagne.” Pidge materialized beside Hunk and Lance started.

“Where did you even come from? What?”

“...The staff room? We finished packing up our stuff - the catering companies are gonna clean up their own trays and shit, which means if we wanna snag those bottles, we gotta go now or they’ll be gone.”

Lance exchanged a look with Hunk and shrugged, pushing himself up. “Why not?”

Pidge held up her empty backpack with a wicked grin. “ _ Nice. _ ”

* * *

 

Lance trudged into work the next morning feeling dead on his feet. He hadn’t gotten champagne drunk with his friends, but the stress and exhaustion from coordinating his first event for I Meet You was finally showing.

He was just beginning to feel like a human person when he headed out for his lunch break. He had barely stepped foot out the door when he was accosted by a haggard looking Keith.

“Jesus Christ, were you waiting out here for me?”

“Uh-”

“No, don’t answer that. I’m going to lunch.” Lance reached out to push past him and get a meal that would probably considered by most to fall more into the “dessert” category because goddamn if he didn’t deserve to treat himself, but Keith grabbed his arm.

“Hold on!”

Lance grit his teeth, turning to face Keith fully, and waited for him to speak.

Keith stared, clearly uncertain of how to proceed now that he actually had Lance’s attention, and he frowned. “About last night…”

“Why didn’t you show?”

Keith looked at his feet, a grimace distorting his features. “I, uh. Lost track of time. I had a meeting that went long and-yeah.”

Lance squeezed his eyes shut. “I had to cover for you because you  _ lost track of time _ ? And you couldn’t even bother letting me know?”

Lance opened his eyes to see Keith’s mouth moving in the beginnings of something, an apology, a retort, whatever, but Lance didn’t allow him to form the words.

“Whatever, man. Just forget about it.”

He waved a hand dismissively as he turned to stalk off, but Keith snatched his wrist. “Hey, wait!”

“What for? I said forget about it. It doesn’t matter anymore.” He snatched his hand away.

“Of course it matters! Why are you being so weird about this? I’m sorry!”

“Right. Cool. Thanks.”

“Lance, c’mon. I said I’m sorry.”

Lance’s gaze hardened. “I heard. Look, if you didn’t want to come, you could’ve just said so. Did Allura make you come and apologize to me? Because she didn’t need to.”

Keith flinched at the accusation, and Lance laughed at the inadvertent confirmation of his words.

All his fears and insecurities were being confirmed. Of course Keith had never really wanted to go. Lance had practically forced him to. He probably only agreed that day so that he wouldn’t seem like a dick in front of all his friends, and then put up with Lance out of pity.

He shook off the wave of anxiety that hit him and summoned his usual bravado.

“Good talk. Very enlightening. Thank you for taking the time,” he bowed, giving Keith a smile, “but I gotta get going. Lunches to eat, work to do, you know how-”

Keith prickled at his sudden change in attitude and cut him off. “I don’t know why I bothered trying to apologize. Here.” He shoved a small box into Lance’s hands and stalked back to his own office, leaving Lance dumbfounded by his sudden exit.

He turned the box over in his palms, letting his shoulders droop as his bravado fell away once more.

Eventually he rolled his eyes and turned back towards I Meet You, pushing roughly through the doors. He threw the box into his bottom desk door, stubbornly refusing to accept whatever cheap attempt at making amends Keith had given him.

He stared angrily at his computer for a few moments as though it was at fault for everything going wrong in his life, before getting back to work.

He wasn’t really hungry anymore.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ............ its been a while. college is beating me up but we're finally in the swing of things again!!
> 
> and w this we're roughly halfway through my outline!! thnx everyone who's left kind words and encouragement <3


	5. Chapter 5

“C’mon, dude. It’s been two weeks. You can’t stay mad at him forever…”

Lance jerked his head around from where he had been peering through the foliage of the potted plant by the door, staking out the street to ensure he wouldn’t run into Keith when he left for his lunch break.

“Hunk!”

Pidge paused her typing and looked up from her desk. “He definitely can. Have you met Lance?”

Lance nodded fervently in agreement. “She gets me.”

“Okay, whatever. I just think you’re both being ridiculous.” Hunk crossed his arms.

Lance tried to to come up with a retort, but the words died on his tongue as the door he had turned away from opened.

“Lance, what are you doing crouched down there?” Coran looked down his moustache, his eyebrows scrunched together on his face.

“Uh-”

“No matter! I’ve just come from a  _ very  _ successful meeting, and I have an important announcement to make!”

Hunk and Lance exchanged a worried glance. Coran being so excited about something rarely boded well for the rest of the team.

Lance braced his hands on his knees, ready to stand up and listen to Coran’s idea, when the door opened once more and he froze.

Keith walked in, coming to stand next to Coran, and looked blankly around the room. His eyes rested on Lance’s crouched figure, and a thin line appeared between his brows before he smoothed it and looked back to Coran.

“Right on time, Mr. Kogane! I was just about to make the announcement.” Coran plopped his hand onto Keith’s stiff shoulder and gestured about the room with his free hand. “Starting today, I Meet You and Renew will officially be partnering on a special project! We’ll be working collaboratively with their firm to match their newly single clients using our matchmaking services!” Coran beamed, clearly pleased with his ingenious idea to team up.

Lance finally shot up. “But! Uh…”

Everyone’s eyes focused on him and he swallowed, trying to ignore Keith’s unnerving stare.

“What is it, my boy? Don’t tell me - you’re worried about taking on so many new clients? Don’t worry! I have complete faith in you, and you’ll be working with established profiles from Renew, which should lighten the load considerably!” Coran gave him a reassuring smile and barrelled on, hardly registering Lance’s hesitant nod. “Anywho, it’ll be business as usual for now, but be on the lookout for a memo regarding some of your new tasks later today.” Coran inclined his head to Keith. “Anything you’d like to add, Mr. Kogane?”

Keith’s lips pinched together before he forced the corners up into a slight smile. “Just that I’m looking forward to this collaboration. I Meet You has done some amazing things, so I’m excited to see what our firms can do together.” He didn’t meet anyone’s eyes as he spoke, but when he finished he lifted his gaze ever so slightly to lock eyes with Lance.

Lance’s brow furrowed as Keith gave a curt nod to him and exchanged a few quiet words with Coran. He turned back with a polite smile. “I’m happy to be working with you all,” and with that, he returned the way he came, retreating back into his own office and leaving Lance dumbstruck.

Pidge inched her way to Lance as they stared at Keith’s retreating back.

“You know, I'm starting to think maybe you’re onto something with that Murphy’s Law thing.”

* * *

 

“What the fuck.”

“I know, Lance.”

“Coran can’t possibly expect me to work with  _ him _ .”

“I know, Lance.”

“I mean-”

“Lance, Lance, stop.” Veronica looked him square in the eye, pointing the neck of her bottle at him. “You are a professional. You have a PhD. You can handle working with my asshole ex-husband’s asshole lawyer.” Her gaze was hard, but it softened as she added, “It won’t be as bad as you think. You’re both adults, right?”

Lance scoffed. “I’m not so sure.” He leaned forward on his elbows with a sigh and lifted his own bottle to his lips. “He’s so immature I tend to doubt it.”

Veronica rolled her eyes. “He did try to apologize, to be fair.”

His eyes darted to her with betrayal. “That was  _ not  _ an apology!” He almost spilt his beer on Veronica’s new apartment counter as he gestured wildly with his bottle. Grimacing, he gingerly set it down before whirling back toward his sister. “He stood me up, and then he was an asshole about it when I didn’t immediately forgive him, as if I had some obligation to anyways!” Lance crossed his arms roughly, then slumped, not meeting Veronica’s eyes. “I think there was something he wasn’t telling me.”

Veronica gave him a pitiful look. “You can’t tell me your still paying off student loans for a psych degree and you can’t even take your own advice? I’m not saying you have to forgive him right away, but if you guys are gonna be working together… You should at least be on speaking terms,” she shrugged.

Lance pouted, tucking his arms in even closer to his body. “I hate when you give good advice.”

She laughed. “Now you know how I feel all the time,” she teased, standing up. “And now that I’ve clearly solved all your life problems, you’re gonna help me unpack the rest of this shit.”

* * *

 

Lance returned to his own apartment exhausted. Veronica had abused her sibling privileges by making him help her for so long, but in all honesty, he was glad for the bone deep tiredness he know felt. He’d be able to fall asleep right away, instead of lying awake with thoughts of Keith swirling around.

An hour later, Lance shifted uncomfortably under his covers.

So maybe that plan didn’t quite work out.

He groaned, and finally let his eyes open to stare up at ceiling, allowing his mind to wander to where it had been trying to go all night.

He knew Veronica was right. Even if he didn’t forgive Keith, he had to at the very least be able to talk to him without feeling like an abandoned puppy. This was his job. If he couldn’t separate his work life from his personal, he clearly wasn’t fit to even be a therapist.

It was just that, after Nyma… 

_ No. We’re not going there. _

He was over Nyma. Had been, for a while actually.

Since he met Keith.

It didn’t matter.

He was going to go into work on Monday like an adult and play nice. He was going to do an amazing job helping newly divorced people get ready to go back into the dating world. He was going to organize the most successful event I Meet You had ever hosted.

And he was going to wash his hands of Keith when it was all over with.

Lance was a professional. He wouldn’t let a disagreement with their partner affect his work. His jaw set, he yanked his comforter tighter around himself.

He could do this.

* * *

 

“I can’t do this,” Lance wailed, throwing an arm over his eyes. “That was the most awkward meeting I’ve ever been in. I thought Keith was trying to make my head explode with his mind.”

Pidge raised her eyebrows over her glasses and said nothing, raising her mug of coffee to her lips instead.

“I can’t deal with two months of this, Pidge!” Lance planted his hands on her desk, leaning forward to look despairingly into her eyes.

“Oh, c’mon. You’ll be fine. It’s not like you have to spend every second with him.”

Lance gave her a desperate look, falling onto his knees while his knuckles went white around the edge of her desk.

“... Unless you do.” Pidge sighed. “Did Coran put you in charge of organizing things with Renew?”

Lance nodded weakly, forcing his head up to look at her. “And since  _ Keith  _ is in charge and all, that essentially means I’m working directly with  _ him _ the  _ entire time _ .”

Hunk popped out of Coran’s office, having just dropped off a copy of the fixed bug report. He locked eyes with Lance and gave Pidge a pitying look. “Is he yelling about Keith again?”

Lance shot up. “I think I am entirely justified here!”

Hunk patted him gently on the shoulder. “Of course you are,” he said, as though consoling an insolent toddler, earning a glare from Lance. “Dude. You can do this. Or do you just wanna sink to his level?” Hunk raised a challenging brow.

“You’re just baiting me.” Lance crossed his arms.

“I mean, yeah. Is it working?”

Lance pursed his lips, narrowing his eyes at Hunk. Finally, he uncrossed his arms. “ _ Yeah. _ ”

Pidge laughed, bumping fists with Hunk. “Thanks for saving me from the rest of his rant.”

“You two are ganging up on me again. This is harassment. I’m filing a complaint with HR.”

“Uh-huh. You do that.” Pidge gave him a pointed look. “Or you could, I dunno, do your work.”

He glared for a moment before a wicked grin spread across his face. “You’re right as always, gremlin,” he snickered, ruffling her hair and earning an indignant squeak that made him laugh more. “Okay, fine. I’ll talk to you guys later.”

“Good luck!” Hunk gave him a cheerful thumbs up, returning to his own desk to work.

Lance sat down, cracking his knuckles and opening up his computer. He had a lot to prepare. He wasn’t going to allow himself to show up at Keith’s office tomorrow with anything less than perfection.

* * *

 

The one plus, a major plus in Lance’s opinion, of working with Renew was that he got to work with Shiro and Allura. Ignoring Keith for the past few weeks had provided him some relief for his wounded ego, but it also meant far less time spent hanging out with the other employees of the agency.

He walked in their doors, the hard set of his shoulders betraying the nervousness he felt, as though he was walking into enemy territory. He relaxed when he approached Shiro at the front desk, and Shiro smiled warmly up at him.

“Lance, hey.”

“What’s up, my man?”

“Oh, you know. Just helping people bravely embark on the next stage of life with their improved selves, the usual,” he deadpanned in response. “Keith’s been… Well. Keith.”

Lance pursed his lips. “Yeah. Might be my fault a little.”

Shiro lifted one thick brow. “Oh yeah?” but the laughter laced in his voice betrayed how amusing he found the situation.

Lance narrowed his eyes in mock indignation. “I’ll have you know I am an entirely innocent party in all of this.”

“Mm-hm. Honestly with Keith I normally wouldn’t doubt it,” he chuckled. “But maybe you both are a little too stubborn for your own good.”

“I didn’t come here to be attacked. I came here to work. Like a professional. Which I am.”

Shiro laughed at him again, and Lance grinned.

Allura peeked her head around the corner and smiled. “Ah, Lance! I thought I heard you. You’re a little early, but I think we’re ready for you.” She gestured for him to follow her around the wall dividing the lobby from the rest of the office and led him to a long, dark wood conference table. “Take any seat you like,” she said warmly, grabbing her own chair which already had a laptop and binder set in front of it. Lance almost laughed in relief that he wouldn’t be left alone with Keith, since Coran wouldn’t be attending this meeting like he had the previous.

He got settled and looked up. “So how’s it goin’, ‘Lura?”

She smiled kindly at him. “Wonderful! I’ve been looking forward to this collaboration since Keith first proposed it to us.”

Lance nodded, then registered the meaning behind her words. “This was Keith’s idea?” He had assumed Coran had been the mastermind behind the team up, his enthusiasm forcing Keith to go along with it. The thought that Keith had been the one to approach I Meet You hadn’t even crossed his mind.

Allura’s eyes twinkled with mischief. “Did you not know?” she asked innocently.

“Why would he-”

He was cut off as Keith walked out of what was presumably his office and stalked to the table. He took the seat directly across from Lance, sliding his laptop out of his bag in silence.

Lance sat quietly as Keith collected his things, unsure of how to proceed. Thankfully, once Keith was settled, Allura jumped in to start the meeting.

“We have a pretty solid idea of where we want to go with this collaboration, but there a few important details to discuss before we proceed. We have a lot of unique services we want to provide in conjunction with I Meet You’s matchmaking services.”

Lance relaxed in his chair, listening to Allura’s overview of some of the services Renew provides to its clients to help them with the adjustment of being single, in addition to their legal services. He had to admit, it really was a great idea to team up. Many of Renew’s clients were eager to jump back into the dating world, and it allowed I Meet You to tap into a new pool of potential members. He chimed in with suggestions for the services and contributions he and his team would be making, but Keith remained silent, taking in the scene with a steely gaze and occasionally tapping out notes on his laptop.

Lance shifted uncomfortably everytime that gaze was locked onto him with an intensity he wasn’t prepared for - that he doubted anyone  _ could  _ be prepared for - and fidgeted with his notes.

“Coran already has plenty of ideas for a weekend mixer event for the divorced clients that’s gonna wrap everything up,” Lance began, his voice steady despite Keith’s intense look. He was not going to let Keith faze him. He continued, “We want this final event to be something memorable for everyone. While we'll be working on matching people and finding potential partners, I wanted the focus of the trip to be more about accepting the idea of finding someone new and opening up. It’s much more important for them to leave  _ ready _ to date than with a date. I’m thinking a casual weekend trip where everyone has a chance to mingle and flirt would be an excellent opportunity for them to test the waters for themselves. Aside from event planning, I’m thinking we should interfere less with their interactions on this one.”

Keith nodded, but didn’t break his silence.

“Wonderful idea, Lance! What do you think, Keith?” Allura prompted, looking pointedly at Keith.

He looked startled, like he hadn’t realized he had yet to actually speak. “Oh, uh, yeah. I think it sounds great.” He hesitated, looking down at what Lance presumed was notes on his laptop. Lance shot Allura a grateful look in his moment of distraction, and Keith continued, “I was worried some things may make the clients feel as though we’re trying to push them into a new relationship too soon, or that we’re pressuring them, but this sounds good.” He looked back up at them. “Is that all?”

Allura was mostly successful in hiding her exasperation, but Lance could see in the tightness of her smile that she was barely keeping it under wraps. “That’s everything for now. We can move forward fairly smoothly from here.” She turned to Lance. “I’m excited to see what we can do together!”

Keith huffed, standing up with a sour look on his face, and Lance narrowed his eyes. He turned back to Allura, allowing his smile to return. “And I’m looking forward to working with  _ you _ ,” he emphasized the word, and from the indignant sound he heard beside him, Keith had worked out the intentional exclusion he had made.

Allura rolled her eyes, forcing back a grin at Lance’s teasing of Keith. “Perhaps you should join me and Shiro for dinner tonight.” She looked slightly past Lance to Keith, who was roughly putting his computer away. “And you’re welcome too, of course, Keith.”

He glanced up, sour expression still in place. His eyes landed on Lance as he said, “No thanks.”

Lance forced down a snort. “More for us, then, huh?” he nudged Allura.

She rolled her eyes at them again. “Shiro or I will text you after work, then. See you!” She retreated back to her desk, leaving Lance standing awkwardly with Keith.

“Right. Well. If there’s nothing else, I’ll just go, then,” Lance said, already slinging his work bag over his shoulder.

“Wait!” Keith blurted.

Lance raised his brows. “Uh, yeah?”

Keith gaped for a moment, then shook his head. “Whatever, nevermind.”

Lance had to restrain himself from rolling his eyes. He was, technically, working. “Okay then. I’ll email you all of the information I went over today.” 

Without another word, he turned on his heel, exiting the way he came, pausing only to give Shiro a wave and “See you later!” called over his shoulder.

He didn’t change his pace until he sunk into his familiar desk chair, sighing with relief that the meeting was over with.

Hunk appeared soon after, two mugs in hand, and Lance could’ve sworn the man had a halo in that moment. “Hunk, you sweet, sweet angel. I owe you my life,” Lance breathed out, already grasping for one of the mugs, which Hunk relinquished with a laugh.

“We already knew that. I kinda figured you’d need to re-energize after the meeting. How’d it go?”

Lance took a moment, relishing the taste of the coffee, before answering. “About as well as I expected, honestly. It could’ve been worse, though,” he shrugged, then groaned. “I’m gonna talk to Coran, I think. I really don’t know if putting me in charge was the best call on this one.”

Hunk grimaced in sympathy. “You already know I think you’ll be fine, but if it’s really that awful, well.” He shrugged, then looked at Lance from the corner of his eye, hiding his mouth behind his mug. “I’ve never known you to back down from a challenge, though.”

Lance’s eyes narrowed to slits as he appraised Hunk. “You know I’m a psychiatrist, right? That won’t work on me.”

Lance could see the smile hidden by Hunk’s coffee spread to his eyes. “I mean, worth a shot. It’s worked before.”

“You and Pidge are  _ impossible _ .”

Hunk waved him off with a smile, sitting back down to continue working at his desk and leaving Lance to do the same.

Lance knew Hunk was right though, loath as he was to admit it. He wasn’t willing to give up this project just because Keith was being… Keith. He was confident in his abilities, and he was bolstered by the assurance that Coran clearly thought the same, although something nagged at him.

Lance had already proven his skills as an event planner with the last banquet I Meet You had thrown, but still. Lance was their counselor. Coran rarely piled other work on top of it unless it was necessary, but he could have easily handled working with Renew himself. Lance sighed, taking a final sip of the coffee, and set his mug down.

He got up from his desk and walked to Coran’s office, notes from the meeting in hand. He was going to send a digital copy later, but he figured he may as well give himself a good excuse to drop by Coran’s office. He knocked lightly, opening the door to Coran typing away at his computer.

“Ah, Lance. What can I do for you?” Coran looked up, pushing his reading glasses farther up his nose.

“Uh, I just wanted to give you a physical copy of some of the meeting notes. Renew was very on board with the trip idea, so I’m sure Allura will be in touch with you soon.” He handed over the notes, which Coran took and appraised with a delighted “hm.”

“Excellent work!” He paused when Lance hesitated to continue. “Was there anything else you needed?”

“Um, yeah.” He paused, then blurted, “Why did you ask me to be in charge of planning things with Renew?”

Coran looked surprised by Lance’s question, taking a moment to stroke his moustache. “Are you worried about the workload? I know it’s quite a lot to take on, on top of our regular clients, but I wouldn’t have allowed it if I didn’t think you could handle it.”

“Oh, no! I didn’t mean - wait. ‘Allowed it’? What do you mean?”

“Why, I simply assumed you knew! Mr. Kogane asked specifically for you to be in charge. Asked me if it would be possible for him to work with you on planning the events.”

Lance’s eyes widened, then narrowed as a million thoughts flashed across his mind. Keith asked for  _ him _ ?  _ Specifically _ ? The only logical conclusions were that Keith was either a sadist or a masochist, because he clearly did not want to even be in the same room as Lance anymore. Before he could let his mind race too much, he coughed and shook his head.

“Right. Well, thank you for trusting me with this.”

“Of course! I have complete faith in you! Complete faith!” he said jubilantly. His expression softened as he added, “But don’t hesitate to ask anyone for assistance. I understand it’s quite a heavy workload.”

Lance brightened a bit at his words. “No problem, Coran. I’ll keep you updated.” He gave Coran a two-fingered salute and shut the door behind him before making his way slowly back to his desk and sitting down.

Everyone was full of surprises lately. Especially Keith.

* * *

 

Nearly a month passed, and nothing changed. If anything, things got worse.

Lance swore his hair was thinning from the stress of working with Renew, but he would admit that Shiro and Allura made it significantly more bearable.

But Keith.

Keith was  _ impossible _ .

He was stiff and cold, sometimes even outright antagonistic, every time Lance was in a room with him, and he fled as soon as any business they had to discuss was done. Lance was always on edge, snappier than he would care to admit, only worsening things between them.

It was ridiculous. Which Pidge and Hunk, and occasionally even Shiro and Allura, never failed to point out. Not that he could blame them. They were probably even more fed up with the situation than he was, given how after every meeting he stormed back to their office and vented to them. At length.

Lance was in the middle of one such rant when Pidge cut him off mid sentence.

“Lance, I swear to God,” she pinched the bridge of her nose, her eyes scrunched tight. “If you say one more word about his ‘stupid face with his stupid suits’ I am going to…” She trailed off, flapping a hand desperately. “Ugh! Hunk, come up with a threat, I’m too fed up right now.”

Lance huffed, crossing his arms mutinously. “You’re all bark, little pigeon.”

Pidge lowered her hands, clasping them tightly in her lap as she glared at him. “This has been going on too long, dude. I can’t take it anymore. Even Hunk’s sick of it, right?”

She looked to Hunk for support, and Lance clasped a hand over his heart with a gasp of betrayal as Hunk reluctantly nodded.

“Sorry, man.”

“Hmph.” Lance crossed his arms, glaring out the window at the firm across the street. Pidge and Hunk shared a look of exasperation, but even as they were preparing an argument for Lance, he was sinking in his chair in defeat. “Ugh. You guys are right. As usual.”

This time, the look exchanged between Pidge and Hunk was one of triumph, and they high fived, earning an eye roll from Lance.

“Yes! So you’ll work things out, you know, like an adult?” Pidge asked excitedly.

“ _ Yeah _ . I just…” Lance stopped. Keith had hurt his ego, sure, but he had also hurt Lance’s feelings, as childish as he felt admitting it. Lance shook himself. “Whatever. I’ll handle it,” he said, already pushing himself back out of his chair.

“Woah, right now?”

Lance was already turning to the door, but he turned back to Hunk with a shrug. “Yeah, why not?”

Pidge gave him a thumbs up. “Good luck then, dude.”

“It’s been an honor, Pidge,” Lance said seriously, bowing slightly to her as he walked backwards to the door, somehow managing not to trip.

He twisted back around and marched across the street.

When he pushed open the door, it was Allura at the desk, and she looked up in surprise. “Did you forget something?”

Lance shook his head. “I actually just need to talk to Keith real quick. Is he back in his office?”

At his words, a small smile broke out on Allura’s face. “He is. I think he’s just about to go out for lunch as well, if you think you may want to join him.”

He nodded, shoving his hands in his pockets and giving her a smile. “Thanks.”

He approached the door he had seen Keith exit many times before and hesitated, unsure of if he should knock or wait for him to leave. In the end, the decision was made for him as the door opened, Keith stuffing some papers messily into his bag.

He looked up just before he ran into Lance, and his eyes narrowed. “Uh.”

“Allura said you were heading to lunch. Mind if I join?” he asked, ignoring the pang he felt at Keith’s reaction to his presence.

Keith took a moment to respond. “If you want.”

They walked out past Allura, who waved enthusiastically at them as they passed, and made their way to the sandwich shop Lance had shown them ages ago in tense silence.

Lance glanced over occasionally, and noticed the tension evident in Keith’s shoulders and his grip on the strap of his bag. Keith looked resolutely ahead, never meeting Lance’s gaze.

Eventually, after an eternity of silence, they were seated at one of the outdoor tables with their food. Lance picked at his chips, and sighed, finally resolving to go ahead with what he wanted to say.

“Okay. Look, we don’t need to be friends. We just need to be able to work together without wanting to strangle each other.”

A tiny crease appeared between Keith’s eyebrows. “I don’t want to strangle you.”

Lance shot him a look. “Well, you clearly don’t want to be friends. Why did you even ask Coran to put me in charge anyways? Did you just want to torture me? Or yourself?”

“This… is torture for you?”

Keith looked genuinely surprised to hear that, even a little hurt, and Lance gaped. “I mean I – I assumed it was for you. Because of – you know.” He gestured up and down at Keith, from his crossed arms to the slight frown still in place on his face. “You haven’t exactly been acting like you’re thrilled to work together.” There was a sharp edge to his voice.

“Oh.” Keith glared down at his sandwich. “Um. Sorry.”

A flash of irritation crossed Lance’s face, but he sighed and relented. “Keith.”

He looked up, sheepishly meeting Lance’s eyes.

“I’m an amazing psychiatrist, but I can’t read minds. What’s up with you? I can’t read you at all. At first you made me think you hated me, then I thought we were friends, but then you stood me up, and now you’re asking to work with me but acting like it’s the most painful experience on Earth for you. What the hell, man?” Lance couldn’t keep his frustration from creeping into his voice as he spoke, and by the end he swung his arms out wide, desperate.

Keith’s eyes were wide, and he looked at a loss for words. “I, um, I don’t…” He trailed off, his face pinched. “Fuck.”

Lance stared, unrelenting. Keith searched his eyes for something, breaking down with a sigh.

“I’m just-I’m sorry.”

“... Okay.”

“It’s… It was dumb. I’m sorry, okay?”

Lance huffed and crossed his arms. “After all that, you expect me to forgive you when you won’t even explain  _ why _ ? Why you bailed on me, and why you’ve been acting like such a dick?”

Keith glared, eyes flashing. “It’s not like I was the only one acting like a dick.”

Lance opened his mouth, ready to retort, but he paused. Keith had a point. But he barrelled on anyways. “Oh, come on. I know you didn’t really have a meeting run long. Shiro and Allura both didn’t hear anything about you having a meeting at all that day, and then you want to work with me after all that? Really?”

Keith pursed his lips, his ears reddening behind his fringe. “Look, I just -  _ ugh _ .” He waved a hand in the air, not meeting Lance’s eyes. “I got nervous, okay? I was all ready for that stupid party and then, I don’t know. I thought of all the ways I’d end up embarrassing myself in front of you.” His eyes darted up, meeting Lance’s for only a moment. “You know I’m not really-” He gestured vaguely, making a noncommittal sound with his throat, “-with  _ people _ .”

“You… what?” Not the explanation Lance had been expecting. He deflated. “Shit, man. I already knew you weren’t a people person.”

A snort of laughter from Keith startled Lance, and he glanced up to see Keith looking at him through his lashes, the beginnings of a smile playing on his lips. “I  _ am  _ sorry I didn’t show. And for being such an asshole.”

Lance smiled at the sight, then cringed. “You’re… not the only one who needs to apologize.” He fiddled with the edge of a napkin. “I  _ might  _ have overreacted a little. I was hurt. But it still wasn’t fair of me.” Keith looked ready to protest, but he continued, “I think maybe we’ve both been a little…  _ antagonistic  _ after how we met and everything, so. Yeah. I’m sorry for how I acted too.”

Keith smiled, genuinely this time, and Lance felt warmth grow in his chest and spread to his toes. A thought occurred to him, and he blurted, “Oh! Don’t think I’ve forgotten, by the way. I’m paying you back for the necklace. Things got a little crazy, but. Yeah. You better have kept it safe for me.”  
Keith gave him an indecipherable look. “I - yeah. Sure.” He stared at Lance a moment more, eventually shaking his head and taking a bite of his sandwich.

They ate in amicable, if somewhat awkward, silence, small bits of conversation flowing between them every so often.

They were almost done when Keith’s phone chimed and he pulled it out. “It’s Shiro. I have a meeting.” He looked at Lance, a wry smile on his face. “This time for real.”

Lance grinned in return. Not as bright as his usual toothy smile, but it was getting there. He stood, gathering up their near empty cardboard containers of food. “Go get ‘em, tiger.”

Keith laughed as he gathered his bag and turned away, waving as he went. He was a couple yards away when he turned slightly, throwing out over his shoulder, “I think you’ll like that gift I gave you a while ago, by the way.”

“Huh?” Keith was already turning away, so his question was lost. “Pft. Typical,” Lance muttered without heat, throwing out their trash and sitting back down, taking the opportunity to send off a couple of emails before he had to return from his lunch break.

When he finished, Lance went back to his own office and slid into his chair, inexplicably exhausted from his conversation with Keith. As he was opening his laptop, he remembered the small velvet box sitting in the bottom of one of his desk drawers.

Of course. That’s what Keith had been referring to. Lance almost laughed at his own forgetfulness. He had thrown the box aside in a fit of stubborn anger, and he had been so swamped since then he had completely forgotten it was even there.

He opened the drawer and gingerly pulled the box from where it was peeking out from underneath a binder. He shot a quick glance around the room, feeling his heart unexpectedly start to race at the thought of what Keith could have given him, when a thought popped into his head.

He quickly snapped open the box, his gentleness from moments before gone, and snatched the contents out, allowing the box to tumble onto his desk.

It was the necklace. Of course it was the necklace. Lance almost laughed, an odd mixture of relief and irritation, both at himself and at Keith.

“That dick.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> we love when two stubborn idiots resolve a month and a half long argument by having one (1) actual conversation
> 
> also idk if ive mentioned this but i dont have a beta so legit hmu on [tumblr](https://osquarwilde.tumblr.com/) lmao im bad at proof reading

**Author's Note:**

> an unapologetic murphy's law of love klance au, bc i said so. no experience w the show necessary to enjoy this fic, but the show is on netflix ;^3c
> 
> find me on [tumblr](https://osquarwilde.tumblr.com/)!


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